More pointless grandstanding from Labour that shows they aren?t a government in waiting

Parliament is going to debate a Labour Party bill that calls for the immediate election of all the members of Environment Canterbury.

It was drafted by Labour’s Canterbury spokeswoman Megan Woods in response to the government’s sacking of all the regional council’s elected members in 2010.

The government replaced them with commissioners because there had been serious delays in water management decisions.

It subsequently decided on a partial return to democratic representation, and in the local body elections earlier this month seven members of the 13-member council were elected.

The government has appointed the other six.

Ms Woods says that’s not good enough. ?

“The government stripped Cantabrians of their right to have a say over the future of the region,” she said after her bill had been drawn in the member’s bill ballot on Thursday.

“Half a democracy isn’t a democracy, we need full elections as soon as possible.”

The Environment Canterbury (Democracy Restoration) Amendment Bill will go on parliament’s order paper for a first reading.

It isn’t likely to get any further because the government will oppose it.

No. One. Cares.

Has anyone missed elected councillors to Environment Canterbury? Nope.

Has life improved since they were given the arsecard? Yes.

Labour seems to think that having a vote every three years for a bunch of wombles is somehow?democracy. It isn’t when they fail to deliver. This is just silly grandstanding over an issue that has no amount of upside for the opposition.

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.